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Protecting Oregon Beaches Web Exhibit

A narrow gauge, private railroad on the beach at Bayocean, near Tillamook, carried building supplies such as concrete and lumber for the construction of various buildings at the real estate development. The portable tracks could be moved depending on need. Shown above is a group of potential buyers or investors in 1910. (PDXHistory.com)

By 1914, more than 600 lots had been sold. Visitors found a luxury hotel, natatorium, dance pavilion, and a movie theater designed to accommodate 1000 people. But over the years, the development began to succumb to erosion, an all too common peril of beachfront property. The natatorium closed in 1932 followed by other buildings over the years. Some residents stayed but the last house washed into the ocean in 1960, a sad end to the high hopes of real estate promoters. In 1906 they had claimed that Bayocean would be known as the "Queen of Oregon Resorts." Instead, it became known as "the town that fell into the sea."